The 1st Zero Waste Store in Mainland China is Open! Let's Party!
I am very excited to tell you that the 1st zero waste and package free shop in mainland China has finally opened. On Sunday 20th May (that's this Sunday), let's party!
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What is Zero Waste?
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"What are you doing?"
"The style of your store is certainly very special! But, what is zero waste?"
Many people passing by look up and see our store sign, they find it interesting and so they come inside. After entering the shop, they ask us questions such as the ones above.
Source：Yuli
Source：Yuli
So, what is「Zero Waste」？
Is an easy concept to grasp. It means to not produce any waste that could or would end up in landfills, incinerators or oceans.
Source：Yuli
Don't bring things into your life that you do not need.
Let's get rid of the fascination with having "stuff" and realise the benefits that we can bring into our lives by living in a more spacious, comfortable and free space.
Source：Baidu
What better way to live than living「Zero Waste」. The Zero Waste life is a way of living that hardly creates any waste in our day-to-day lives.
Someone who is living this lifestyle tends to reduce the amount of garbage in their life to zero by not using disposable items, exchanging their unused items with others, giving unwanted items to charities, so that step-by-step the rubbish in their life is reduced to zero.
I got into this lifestyle after coming across a French lady named Bea Johnson (who lives in the United States). In 2008, Bea launched a lifestyle movement, Bea and her family (a family of 4) produced just 1 jar of trash for an entire year! I was very shocked when first saw this and I assume you are too. See that jar below, that's the 1 jar of trash.
Organised by THE BULK HOUSE , Bea's 1st visit to Beijing, China
Source：Sanna K
Bea and her family of 4's trash for an entire year. She can carry it around with her
Source：Zero Waste Home
After seeing Bea's 5 R's（Refuse、Reduce、Reuse、Recycle、Rot）, we added 1 more, Repair，and so we have our guide「 The 6 R's of Zero Waste 」
Source：Carrie
WATCH THE VIDEO
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https://v.qq.com/txp/iframe/player.html?vid=a0655byhwit&width=500&height=375&auto=0
Soruce：Carrie (余元)
Inspired by Bea, in January 2017 THE BULK HOUSE established China's 1st Zero Waste social enterprise.
For the past 10 years, Bea has been invited to share her Zero Waste journey in more than 50 countries around the world. Bea has improved so many people's lives along the way, the concept of zero waste is being more and more accepted.
Mainly due to Bea's talks, the US, Britain, France, Holland and many other European countries have seen zero waste stores open within their borders. Because of the hugely positive impact that Zero Waste will have on our environment, it has been featured on the BBC, New York Times, NPR and countless other media platforms.
Source：Baidu
a package free store in Germany
Source：Baidu
a package free store in the US
Source：Carrie
Was lucky enough to be in NYC in March. Here is a Whole Foods Market in Manhattan.
Source：Carrie
Source：Carrie
Lauren Singer has set up a zero waste store in Brooklyn, NY
Source：Baidu
a bulk store in Europe
Source：Baidu
bulk store in the US
Source：Charlie
the first zero waste store in Hong Kong
Source：Charlie
another section of the zero waste store in Hong Kong
Today, I want to introduce the first zero waste and package free shop in mainland China, which my boyfriend and I opened in Beijing.
Source：Yuli
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China's 1st Zero Waste Package Free Store is now open!
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My name is Carrie (余元Yu Yuan). I was born in 1991 in Wuhan. In January 2016, just after returning to Beijing from Wuhan, I was told by my landlord that he would sell the apartment I was living in and so I had to move out within two weeks. As I started to pack, I could see there were so many things in my room! I was on the 6th floor and there was no elevator. I didn't want to throw my unused things away so I gave them to my neighbors. When I moved to a new home, I could clearly see the difference of having less stuff. After a while, I found that having less stuff did not negatively effect my life, instead, it positively effected my life. Ever since that time, I have continued to think, "What kind of life do you want?" And ever since then, I have continued subtracting things from my life and constantly minimalised things I do not need.
Source：Yuli
Source：Yuli
Source：Yuli
In the summer of 2016 I came across Bea Johnson's 「 the founder of the Zero Waste movement 」TED talk, and I was shocked by that 1 small glass jar of trash for her family of four for a year. I was deeply attracted by her Zero Waste life, and began to see her as kind of an idol.
Source：Zero Waste Home
Then I slowly started to practice the Zero Waste lifestyle. Refusing to buy take-out food, taking my shopping bags with me to the supermarket, bringing my own reusable cup with me，only using reusable cutlery, taking part in swap events for 2nd hand items.....
I began to change my old habits little by little, and gradually found that the rubbish I produced every day kept decreasing. At the same time, some friends around me were gradually influenced by me, and began to reduce how much take out food they ordered, changed how they shopped by bringing their own bags and reusable containers.
Source：Carrie
Carrie's daily essentials
Source：Baidu
Muslin and mesh bags for buying fruits and vegetables
Among them, Joe Harvey, my boyfriend of 4 years, was the most influenced (Let's be honest, he had no choice, haha). Joe was born in England to Irish parents, although only realising it later in life, he was brought up in quite a green home along with his 2 brothers (who were both born in Ireland). Joe was always encouraged to finish everything on his plate and there was never any edible food thrown in the bin after dinner. The fridge was never jam-packed with food meaning food was rarely thrown away due to it being out-of-date. Christmas and birthdays would never see piles of gifts, instead it was always things that each person needed or at least wanted. Joe was brought up being taught to look after what he had and was taught how to fix things.
In September 2012, Joe landed in Beijing after completing a pretty amazing journey with the London 2012 Olympic Torch Relay Team around the UK in the lead up to the 2012 London Olympic Games.
Although only planning to stay for 2 months, Joe is still here (I guess he lost his passport). In the fast pace of Beijing, influenced by work, friends and all the other ongoing of life, the fast-paced life caused him to think about what kind of life he wanted. So after moving apartments 1 year he began to try to reduce his belongings, leaving only what he really needed.
Source：Yuli
Source：Yuli
The happy Lord and Lady of THE BULK HOUSE
Source：Yuli
Then, after seeing changes in my lifestyle, he began to follow my steps and join the ranks of zero waste advocates. As we moved to a zero waste lifestyle, we began to encourage and "supervise" each other, making a variety of attempts to change our home into a zero waste one. Sometimes, when we went out for a walk, we would see old furniture that had been discarded and thrown into piles of trash within our community, we would pick up the furniture, repair it, clean it up and use it ourselves. By doing this, we added a number of new "Trasures" to our home. It's a new word we invented: Trash + Treasures = "Trasures" (trademark pending).
One day, we came up with the idea to challenge ourselves and see "How little garbage we could create in 3 months?" So we began to consciously record all the rubbish generated by our daily life. I found that the rubbish we made everyday was divided into 3 categories:
1. Packaging waste (such as product packaging, food packaging, online shopping, takeout packaging, etc. Most of it was plastic bags or packaging that had a plastic lining).
2. Disposable products (such as chopsticks, leaflets, paper cups, plastic cups, etc.)
3. Food waste This stuff keeps us living, we should respect it a lot more than we currently do. We must know about environmental problems that are caused by food waste and that we shouldn't ignore them. It is estimated that 25% of all landfill waste could have been composted.
From the beginning of August 2016 to the end of October 2016, 3 months of trash for 2 people kept in 2 small jars. Although we did not have as little as the Johnson family, we were still quite happy with the result.
Source：Carrie
Last October, I learned that Bea Johnson would be travelling in Asia giving talks, with dates set in Japan, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Taiwan, Hongkong and some other places. But, there was no date set for any cities in Mainland China. We were going to fly out to Japan to see her talk and hopefully meet her! Instead, we sent her an email to say "Hi" and to see if she would like to give a talk in Beijing. To be honest, we weren't even expecting a reply. To our surprise, Bea replied immediately and accepted our invitation. Wooohoooo!!!
Source：Joe (the day he forgot his parachute)
The moment I received the email back from Bea I was flying high with excitement!
Source：Sanna K
Bea's talk in Sanlitun's DayDayUp
Source：Sanna K
Bea is striving to promote zero waste in many many countries. Gung Ho! pizza has perfectly photobombed the photo. Mmmm pizza!
Source：Sanna K
Many very enthusiastic audience members lined up to have a photo with Bea
Source：Sanna K
Source：Sanna K
The venue was packed. There were only 100 seats, but about 140 audience members. Bea with Christine, Christine is a great member of the zero waste community.
Source：Sanna K
My life became way more interesting and fulfilling after discovering the zero waste lifestyle through Bea.
Source：Sanna K
After the event, Bea posed with all the volunteers for a photo. Joe couldn't even stop eating for 1 second to have his photo taken.
Source：Carrie
Bea ticked another thing off her bucket list.
It is a great wall.
Source：Joe
A photo with Mao at Tian'anmen Square
Source：Joe
As long as you work hard, your dreams will come true.
Inspired by all the enthusiasm that Bea Johnson brought to her talk in Beijing, we rented a 17 square meter store on the 2nd floor of the 258 Electric World, just south Zao Ying subway station. Although we didn't really know whether anyone would be interested in this concept, we thought "If you don't try it, you will never know." So, on 21st January 2018, the first zero waste and package free store in mainland China was born.
Source：Karo
At the time we weren't sure if the building our store was in would get renovated so our 1st store never had a store sign.
We opened up as quickly as we could and renovated the store as we went along. People passing would ask "Sorry, what is this place?" Once we explained it was a zero waste store, we would then have to explain the zero waste concept, then we would be asked "Can you make money doing this in China?" We'll have to find out.
We had kitted the store out in mainly second-hand furniture, some of this was given to us by friends, some we bought from random markets around Beijing and some pieces were found in the community where we live (Trasures TM). Day-by-day the store started to take shape with more and more zero waste products.
Source：Karo
We held the opening party for the 1st zero waste store in mainland China on 4th February 2018. Many old friends came along and so did many new friends we had met within the zero waste community. We also attracted the attention of many newspapers, magazines and online publications who came to the store to interview me and take photos. The original doubters slowly changed their attitude towards our store, "More people need to hear about this!"
In mid March it was announced that the mall would close for renovation and all the vendors in 258 had to move out. Unfortunately, we received the news when Joe and I were out of China, we had gone back to the UK for a wedding. When we got back to Beijing, we didn't have long until we had to clear out all the hard work we had put into the store. We had a crazy few days of having to move everything into our apartment and with 2 people who enjoy the comfort of having less, it was very uncomfortable to have a packed out apartment. We knew we had to find a new store ASAP and started hunting around popular areas in Beijing. We eventually found a perfect sized store on Guloudongdajie.
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Zero Waste Package Free Store
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This time, we got our sign. Everyday we can hear passersbys reading aloud our store sign “「 THE BULK HOUSE 零浪费无包装商店 」” "Linglangfei wu baozhuang shangdian".
Source：Yuli
Since moving into our new store, I have been proud to tell customers that all the furniture in the store is second-hand. However, recently, as the store has taken shape we found that we did needed to buy some new shelves and as we needed more than 20 of the same size shelf, this wasn't too easy to find secondhand, so we had to give in and buy some new ones. We have still kept all the other 2nd hand furniture and we are very happy with how the store has turned out.
Source：Yuli
Source：Yuli
Source：Yuli
Source：Yuli
Source：Yuli
Source：Yuli
Source：Yuli
In addition to second-hand furniture, we also have our Reduce to Relive section inside the store, which we are happy to introduce to our customers. We've all got too much stuff and we all have things in our home that we never use and probably never will use. We say, sell those things or give them onto people who will use them. You can drop off clothes, books, DVDs and many other items into our Reduce to Relive section. Please make sure the items are clean and are still working. Please don't drop off any food items or dangerous items though (for example, sharp objects)
Everything in the Reduce to Relive section is FREE! You bring nothing and take something or bring something and take nothing, it's up to you. We just have the very basic principle: "Please only take what you really need."
Source：Yuli
Reduce to Relive clothing area
Source：Yuli
Source：Carrie
Source：Carrie
The Reduce to Relive section
We also work with TerraCycle. TerraCycle take care of your hard to recycle items by taking things like old toothpaste tubes and turning them into products. Once we have a big box of items we will send them off to TerraCycle in Shanghai for them to work their magic on them. Please feel free to drop off shampoo bottles, facewash bottles, old toothbrushes, toothpaste tubes, etc into our TerraCycle box.
Source：Kai
Finally, here are some photos to give you a better understanding of what we have in store.
Source：Rebecca / Carrie
It is estimated that 500 million plastic straws are used in the United States everyday! A large number of sea turtles and other marine are affected by these every year, they cause injury and death to many marine species.
Organic cotton mesh bags
Organic cotton muslin bags
In China, 1.38 billion people use an average of 3 billion disposable plastic bags each and every day. The average time each bag is used for is 25 minutes, while each plastic bag takes about 470 years to biodegrade.
Amongst our products, we have stainless steel products, solid wood products, pure natural handmade products, organic cotton and natural shampoo.
Most of our products are reusable, and for many of them when they can no longer be reused, they can biodegrade naturally so not to cause any problems for our environment. Many of the products are certified as organic and we also have Fair Trade products.
Although we are mainly focusing on daily necessities, we will continue to enrich the variety of products in our store so as to provide more convenience for people to practice the zero waste lifestyle.
THE BULK HOUSE: Making Zero Waste Convenient For All(我们希望让这种零浪费生活方式触手可及).
We hope to make the zero waste lifestyle accessible for everyone.
Source：Carrie
Source：Lunette
Source：Carrie
Source：Carrie
Source：Carrie
Source：Baidu
Source：Baidu
Source：Carrie
Source：Carrie
Source：Carrie
Source：Carrie
Source：Abeego
Source：Carrie
Source：internet
Source：Carrie
Source：Carrie
Since arriving at the new store, we have not officially announced the news of our opening. Since moving in, we have had many customers from the old store passby and were oftern surprised "Wow, you moved here!"
Source：Carrie
We have decided to hold an opening party this Sunday (Sunday 20th May, 520) to celebrate the opening of the new store and to thank our friends, customers and the community for their support. We shall officially delclare that the 1st zero waste store in mainland China is OPEN! (or, more so, re-OPENED!)
Source：Carrie
On the day of the event, we will have a 10% discount on THE BULK HOUSE branded products. During the party, we will provide snacks and drinks. Please come along to join us!
We also welcome you to bring the second-hand clothes, books, DVD and other items from your home that you no longer use or need (Reduce to Relive)
In addition, we also welcome you to bring toothpaste tubes, shampoo bottles, old toothbrushes, etc (Terracycle). These will be transformed in new items.
How we pack
All our deliveries are packed the zero waste way! No plastic!
Even our sticky tape is 100% biodegradable. We can show you what it looks like at our opening party. The paper tape is made sticky by wetting the natural corn syrup which is on one side of the tape. Nearly all of our cardboard boxes used for deliveries are being used for a 2nd time. We urge people not to recycle cardboard boxes straight away, the better thing to do is Reuse them as much as you can, once they are no longer reusable then you recycle them. Remember the 6 R's in our logo and the order they that they go in.
1. Refuse
2. Reduce
3. Reuse
4. Repair
5. Recycle
6. Rot
Reuse before you Recycle
Source：Carrie
We have a little tip for you based from our experience. We used to give all of our boxes to our local kuaidi companies (delivery companies) so that they could use them for their deliveries. Then, when we went to deliver something ourself they said we could use their boxes for free. Without knowing it, we added another little element to our sharing community.
So, if you have a load of boxes at home, don't Recycle them, offer them onto people who can Reuse them. If you take them to your local kuaidi station you can also enjoy the VIP treatment like I do, haha.
时间：5月20日（15:00-18:00）
地点：北京市东城区鼓楼东大街24-2号
福利：派对期间会有饮品和小吃免费供应
特别提示：Terra Cycle泰瑞环保 和Reduce to Reduce · 精简生活共享区，欢迎大家根据自己情况带来不需要的物品，也可以拿走需要自己的物品！最后，因为店内水杯数量有限，所以请大家携带好自己的水杯，谢谢！
Time: Sunday 20th May (3pm - 6pm)
Location: No. 24-2 Guloudongdajie, Gulou, Dongcheng District, Beijing
Our location is on Baidu, just search THE BULK HOUSE to find us on Baidu.
Drinks and snacks will be provided during the party.
Reduce to Relive: bring things you no longer use or need, find things you do need.
Terra Cycle: bring some of those hard to recycle items from your home and leave them in our TerraCycle box.
BYOB: Bring Your Own Bottle
If you have your own reusable bottle, please bring it along with you as we might not have enough cups and glasses for everyone.
Source：Carrie
Inside our store
How to live a Zero Waste Lifestyle
1) Keep it simple! Start with basic things, such as getting takeaways less often, take a tote bag with you when you go shopping and bringing a reusable bottle out n about with you.
2) Watch some documentaries about the environment, such as "A Plastic Ocean", "Plastic Planet" and "True Cost". I'm sure you'll find them interesting even if you don't care about looking after our beautiful planet.
3) Take part in a swap event. Clear out some things from your home and free some space in your mind at the same time.
4) Start paying attention to the amount of waste you produce on a daily basis, see which things you could easily count down on.
5) Spend money consciously. Write a shopping list before you go to the supermarket and stick to it!
6) Invest in reusables, don't waste your money on disposables (advice from Bea)
7) Clean Plate Policy. Make finishing the food on your plate your new good habit.
8) Start composting.
9) Eat less meat, try some vegetarian and vegan meals (Gung Ho! and Arrow Factory both have great options)
10) A little change everyday. Don't try everything at once, it will be too overwhelming.
11) "Everytime you spend money, you are casting a vote for the kind of world you want", Anna Lappe (It is beautifully true)
12) Support ethical, moral businesses. Look out for B Corps (such as Gung Ho! who do amazing pizzas in Beijing) or companies that are part of 1% for the Planet.
Source：Yuli
营 业 时 间
Opening hours
周一店休
周二~周四 11:00-20:30
周五~周日 10:30-21:00
Mon: closed
Tues - Thurs: 11:00 - 20:30
Fri - Sun: 10:30 - 21:00
商 店 地 址
Store address
北京市东城区鼓楼东大街24-2号
Beijing, Dongcheng District, Guloudongdajie, No. 24-2
百度和高德地图皆可找到我们
You can find us on both Baidu Maps and Gaode Maps
线 上 微 店
Online Weidian Store
关于 THE BULK HOUSE
THE BULK HOUSE 是中国首家致力于倡导零浪费生活的社会企业，通过组织分享零浪费的主题系列活动和内容来引导人们与自然和平共处，并提供一系列日常实用且独具美感的零浪费好物，旨在帮助人们轻松开启一站式零浪费生活之旅。THE BULK HOUSE 为了提倡环境保护，加入1% For The Planet "1%地球税” 的国际环保组织，将产品售出的1%收入捐献给这个组织。我们也将一直支持 “1%地球税”，并希望将我们企业为地球带来的负担降低到最小。
THE BULK HOUSE is the 1st social enterprise in China committed to promoting the zero waste lifestyle. We do this in 3 ways:① Create and promote valuable content. ② Organising events revolving around the 6 R's in our logo. ③ Provide environmentally friendly products to make the zero waste lifestyle more convenient for all.
We are proud to be a 1% For The Planet member. This means we contribute at least 1% of our annual sales to environmental causes.
Source : 1% for the Planet
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想要加入北京零浪费 \ 精简生活（闲置物共享）\ 零浪费实践者 \ 零浪费之修理 \ 零浪费之堆肥社群， 请添加微信号: thebulkhouse，请注明社群类别，比如 “修理”
If you're interested in joining the group chats linked to Zero Waste Beijing
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1. Zero Waste Beijing (TBH) EN & CN 中英文
2. Reduce to Relive | 精简生活 EN & CN 中英文
3. Zero Wasters | 零浪费实践者社区 CN 中文
4.Repair | 零浪费Repair之修理 EN & CN 中英文
5. Rot | 零浪费Rot之堆肥 EN & CN 中英文
To join either of these groups, please add
THE BULK HOUSE on WeChat.
WeChat ID: thebulkhouse
任何合作，投稿、转帖，欢迎与我们联系
For any cooperations, contributions, re-posting, please email at:
English: the_lord@thebulkhouse.com
Chinese: the_lady@thebulkhouse.com
想更好地了解THE BULK HOUSE，请关注我们
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